North Port Devils
In 2009, a Vietnam veteran and son, living in North Port, Florida, have been virtually trapped in their home following a series of terrifying encounters with red eyed, cloven hoofed, flying beings, tall grey men, dragons and lizard-like creatures that they believe have come from another world… or possibly hell itself! Much like a classic Lucha Libre flick will throw vampire women, robots, mummies, midgets, ghosts, zombies, aliens and – of course – garishly masked wrestlers into a bubbling jambalaya of cinematic excess… so this case seems to be culled from a mélange of classic drive-in dreck, and remains flat-out the strangest report we here at American Monsters have ever investigated. The story begins when Michael Rowley and his 16 year-old son, Shane, moved to a house in the west Florida community of North Port, in April of 2009. North Port, incidentally, is located near the Myakka State Forest – the alleged home of the eerie backyard stalker known as the Myakka Ape. The events allegedly began when the pair would see strange lights in the sky above there new home, but it wasn’t long before Shane claimed to have seen some alien beings wandering around their yard. Nevertheless, what began as a prototypical close encounter scenario soon devolved into a situation so surreal it’s akin to watching an episode of the X-Files on LSD. Not long after he and his father moved into their new house, Shane claimed to have woken up with a start to see something none of us ever wish to. Standing in his still curtain less window, bathed in the full moon’s light, was what Shane described to be a smooth skinned, big eyed, roughly 10-foot tall, bulbous headed grey alien, which had extremely long arms with its wrist connecting well below its waist. Shane described his experience to an investigator: “I just woke up and saw this big, tall, grey looking dude. The full moon was on him so I could see everything about him. I could see his skin. He was very tall, about 9-foot, 10-foot.” As if this weren't bizarre enough, according to Shane, as he stared in shock at this strange being that was filling his window frame, he noticed a second entity. This one was described as a scaly Reptoid(a human-lizard hybrid) with a rounded heart shaped head. It was crouched up in the trunk of apalm tree further away, bobbing its head from side to side. This encounter lasted approximately 5 minutes, but – as is the case in so many of these events – Shane found himself lying in the very same position the next morning with no recollection of having fallen asleep. These incidents of “missing time” are a staple of the purported alien abduction phenomenon. All in all the younger Rowley seemed remarkably calm about these experiences: “They kind of show up when they want. You get used to them, but it is weird to see them walking around the woods with those big eyes.” As strange as these creatures are they don’t even compare to the flying, red eyed, cloven hoofed beast – a description not entirely unlike that of the Jersey Devil – that seemed to plague his father: “It’s about this big with pure deep red eyes. It just looked at me for a second… I haven’t seen the wings but we know he flies.” It was of this alleged creature’s cloven track that Michael made a plaster cast, but due to contamination of the print by ostensibly accidental human contact – Michael later admitted that a portion of the cast had been imprinted with his finger – most consider the evidence to be dubious to say the least. On May 19, 2009, the Rowleys’ made contact with MUFON (the Mutual UFO Network.) The group sent field investigator Morgan Beall to examine the Rowley’s claims and interviewed the eyewitnesses, but in MUFON’s report on the North Port Florida Encounter, researchers expressed their concern regarding the senior Rowley’s apparent obstruction of their investigation. From the report: “Based on the analysis of the witness accounts, photographs, video evidence and footprint plaster casts, it is the opinion of the field investigator assigned to this case and MUFON that the events as accounted by the eyewitnesses is unexplainable and the unusual occurrences that took place at the aforementioned address warranted further investigation however events and communication between Mr. Michael Rowley prevented MUFON from proceeding with the said investigation.” While the Rowley’s admit that their interactions with the unknown have compromised their desire to go out after dark – particularly on nights with a full moon, when these beings are more prone to turn up – the elder of the clan (at least at first) believed that these creatures had come in peace and that they were there for a higher purpose: “I’m a combat Vietnam vet and I don’t wake up until something good is going on. This is something big and good going on.” It now seems, however, that Michael has reassessed the benevolent agenda of these entities and, as if this case weren’t weird enough, the addition of a new monster into this story has added an even stranger twist. According to e-mails sent to MUFON investigators and Michael Rowley’s own website northportdevil.comhe and his son are now dealing with a neighborhood literally chock full of people who have a penchant for transforming into dragons. He seems to have expressed a particularly concerned with a neighbor known only as “Paul” who has tried to befriend his son, and apparently spends an inordinate amount of time smoking on a street corner waiting for a chance to change back into his true form. From Michael’s e-mails to MUFON: “I have a concern I need you to understand. I think my whole neighborhood are dragons. One neighbor, not Paul has a dragon sticker on his truck. I have read a lot about dragons, the can be friendly IF you keep their secrets. Remember when I first talked to you, this creature jumped up on our house right when I was calling Marilyn… I know you think I’m a little loony, but this (is) my assessment. They leave us alone now, but what will happen to us if they get mad I have exposed their comfortable neighborhood. All of my neighbors are friendly now, but what if I expose them? I don’t think they would like you exposing them either. Now they leave me alone, what happens after the photos are digitized and clear and published? Am I going to be clawed to death?” “Please do not digitize the video, I feel my life is at stake.” To make matters even worse (as if that were possible), Rowley has apparently managed to tie this new development in with both the Leviathan from the Book of Revelations and the Mayan doomsday prophecy set for December 21, 2012. In fact he goes onto state that the creature he’s been seeing is none other than Ol’ Scratch himself. He relates some of his theories on his homepage: “In December 2012 it is reported that the earth is going to switch poles, due to a planet called, Nibiru, passing close to earth. It is going to totally turn upside down. It can’t be Dec 2012. The Myan calander created by satan to tell the time of his demise is off by 4 years. More like October or November 2016… Nibiru is real and the dragon and reptilians and ufo’s at my property are real. The North Port Devil, is the Devil. He is also know as leviathan, that crooked serpent, The dragon.” In the end, however peculiar it may seem, Rowley does not seem to entirely regret his decision to move to North Port: “Well, I’m retired and I thought this was where you’re supposed to go… The only bad part is the aliens around here.” While these new allegations would not seem to lend themselves to the credibility of the Rowleys’ claims, they don’t completely rule out the possibility that at least some of their assertions may be accurate. When confronted with the inexplicable, the illogical or the downright silly, one must occasionally bear in mind Shakespeare’s famous line from Hamlet: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Category:Cryptozoology Category:Cryptids Category:Cryptids of North America Category:Flying Category:Aliens Category:Humanoids Category:Reptile Category:Reptilian Humanoids Category:Hairy Humanoids Category:Lizards Category:Cryptids from Outerspace Category:Non-categorized Category:Cryptids of the USA Category:Woodland/Forest Cryptids Category:Demons Category:Jinn